Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Is Lindsey Buckingham Downsizing?

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Looks like former Fleetwood Mac front man Lindsey Buckingham might be downsizing in Tinseltown. Although the Grammy winning singer and guitar-picking legend owns a fairly grand and gated estate with an 8,000-plus square foot main mansion in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles that he picked up in late 2004 for $6,600,000,000, according to both Yolanda Yakketyyak and at least one property record data base Your Mama consulted the sixty-something year old rock-n-roll veteran recently scooped up another but much smaller new house just 1.2 miles away for $5,800,000.*

Listing information shows the .82 acre spread sits desirably on a picturesque and prime, star-lined north of Sunset Boulevard street in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. Some of the other high-profile residents of the narrow, tree-lined street include Maria Shriver, Betty White, Ricky Lake and Arianna Huffington. Way back in 2008 Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire and his jewelry designer wife Jennifer Meyer Maguire dropped ten million big ones on a vacant lot that—as far as Your Mama knows—remains vacant and unimproved.

Anyhoo, the existing residence acquired by Mister Buckingham and his long-time wife Kristen is described in marketing materials as a five bedroom and three bathroom 1920s Spanish with just 2,958 square feet. The house must be a little down on its heels since no interior photos were used in the marketing of the property and listing information billed it as a "rare opportunity to build a magnificent estate." In case some of the children aren't able to interpret that, it's real estate speak for "this old girl is a tear down."**

The existing residence sits well and privately back from the street up a long gently curving driveway that passes under a somewhat graceless porte-cochère at the side of the house before it wraps tightly around to a small motor court at the rear of the residence where there appears to be a detached two car garage.

Beyond the house and garage there are a series of outdoor rooms defined by mature hedges and shrubbery, low red-brick walls and rows of probably near-ancient rose bushes. A classic, kidney-shaped swimming pool is sent into a flat grass pad and if we were the wagering type—and we're not—we'd bet both our long-bodied bitches, Linda and Beverly, that the Buckingham's plan to replace that pool with something more modern and with a built-in spa situation. But then again, what do we know? Nuthin', that's what.

As far as Your Mama's entirely unscientific research reveals, the Buckingham's current residence just over a mile away—a great big turreted affair on 1.16 acres and built in 2007 with six bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a swimming pool and a tennis court according to the L.A. Tax Man—is not on the open market.

*As it turns out, this isn't the first time Mister Buckingham has downsized his real estate circumstances in Los Angeles. In June 2005 he sold a 1.25 acre estate in a particularly posh section of Bel Air—directly across the street from Jennifer Anniston's current crib—for $19,500,000 to a non-celebrity but clearly very rich couple.**Your Mama has no idea what plans Mister and Missus Buckingham may or may not have for this property. For all we know they plan to restore the house to its original, modestly scaled 1920s glory.listing photos: Prudential California

The beautiful grounds alone (unfortunately all we can see) are reason for buying this. Look forward to seeing his prior home on here when it hits market or perhaps sold off market. Hopefully there is an elevator here. At 60 something he should be thinking ahead.

Mama, can you PLEASE address PerezHiltons rumor that Jessica Simpson isnt buying the Osbornes house because of the fire damage. I mean, really. The fire was at the Bev Hills rental, of course. And who even knows if she wanted the Hidden Hills house. She's dumb, but not dumb enough to overpay for an ugly suburban house so Ozzy and Sharon can break even.

His Bel-Air place that he sold back in '05 was tasteful & absolutely gorgeous. New build, but with incredible craftsmanship, looked like it was from the '20s. I remember reading an article from when it was for sale about how the architect kept giving them these hugely bloated megamansion designs & they kept rejecting them because they wanted more human-scaled. The lot, landscaping & views were stunning. Of course, the mega-richies who bought it have since embarked on a huge expansion that have turned it into the bloated, tacky megamansion the Buckinghams had worked so hard to avoid. So sad how money doesn't correlate to taste...

Here's a link to a tour of the house they sold for $19.5 million back in '05 - the one on Airole Way, across from Aniston's new place. This is what it looked like at the time, before the current owners "super-sized" it:

Lil Gay Boy you are my hero amongst we children, so I am honored you noted my elevator remark and my Claws. The days of McMansions are going away in my opinion..maybe not in Persian..err Beverly Park but elsewhere. Younger affluent are going to want great design, useable space and green homes, not drywall by the yard. This will be the new status.

Even if it is downsizing, it is still at the $5million+ range. Celebrities will always have a habit of buying houses that are attuned to their projected lifestyle. Having watched MTV cribs for a while, I am amazed of the atrociously expensive homes they have, and it is usually projected according to their future incomes. I think there is an expectation for them to live in such a lifestyle, in order to be within the ‘in group’. It would be good also to know how they keep their storage spaces rather than showing the nice parts of their house.